COLCHICUM RECHINGERI

Family:- COLCHICACEAE

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- Androcymbium rechingeri.

Meaning:- Colchicum (Gr) After Colchis, a Black sea port. A Name used by the

Greek physician and botanist Dioscorides.

Rechingeri (L) For Karl Rechinger (1867-1952) Austrian botanist.

Corms:-

1) Single or 2-3 one above the other.

Stem:-

1) 2-7 cm.

Leaves:-

1) 20-150 x 4-15 mm, linear to lanceolate, flat or slightly plicate, glabrous, patent,

sometimes deflexed.

Flower:-

1) Numerous, 1-4, short-pedicellate.

2) Perianth-segments, (including the claw) 20-25 x 2-5 mm. the limb nearly twice

as long as the claw, acute at the apex.

3) Filaments, 3-5 mm.

4) Anthers, 1-1·5 mm.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, 6-8 mm, obpyriform, not glandular-punctate except occasionally at the

apex, remaining intact.

Key features:-

1) Perianth-segments acute, the limb often scarcely longer than the claw.

2) Fruit obpyriform, remaining intact.

Habitat:- The species grows in coastal phrygana on shallow sandy soil on

calcareous substrate, but not on moving sands. It seems to be strictly adapted to a

very specialized habitat.

Distribution:- Very rare Cretan endemic that occurs on the coasts of northwest

Crete, and also on the island of Elafonisos.

Flowering time:- Dec-Feb

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis

Status:-

Conservation status (for threatened species): Endangered (E) according

to the Red Data Book of Rare and Threatened Plants of Greece (1995)

Protection status (for threatened species): Greek Presidential Decree 67/1981,

Bern Convention, EU Dir.1992/43 (Ann.II*/IV).